Divers pull up 1000lb ghost net from ocean

| 24/07/2013

(NC5): Floating aimlessly and stretching the length of a football field, divers off the coast of Palm Beach made a deadly discovery when they found a near 1,000 pound commercial fishing net.  "Nets in the water are a death trap," said Nikole Ordway. Ordway andseveral other divers managed to pull what they call a "ghost net" just as it was headed toward a fragile coral reef. "Yeah it might be one net, but that's a whole ecosystem it can wipe out," said Ordway. The "ghost net" is just one example of the marine debris problem according to Ordway. She said ocean trash is everywhere.

Aluminum cans, plastic bags and all sorts of trash was found within minutes when Ordway took a dive off the Blue Heron Bridge of Tuesday.

"A lot of these ghost nets or derelict nets can drift for years," said Ed Tichenor of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue. In that time, Tichenor said the debris can kills sharks, lobsters and wipe out entire sections of coral reef.

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  1. Use some Sense says:

    And still some idiots think trash is a "local" problem.

    • Anonymous says:

      I would question who the idiot is if you don't think trash is a local problem

  2. anonymous says:

    That was a great "catch!"

  3. Anonymous says:

    So so sad.

    All of the trash everywhere, the seepage of life destroying filth that is draining out of our own Mt Trashmore into the North Sound,  the cruise ships dumping miles off shore, the disgusting waste that we allow to enter the oceans world wide.

    So who cares about those people that sit at Rum Point, Sandbar and jet across our surrounding sea and toss their cigarette butts into what they feel is their ashtray. It's just a little filter. It will eventually be absorbed into something. Never.

    • Anonymous says:

      No vote = no care.

      • Anonymous says:

        Thanks for confirming that you don't care, but you have go the order turned around: showing that you care might encourage others to grant you the right to vote. Granting you the right to vote in the hope that you might then begin to care would be foolish in the extreme.